description: <p style="text-align: justify;">LOCALITY: Star of Congo Mine, near Lubumbashi (formerly known as Elizabethville), Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo
<br /><br />15" across
<br /><br />This piece was bought from Robert Sielecki at the Denver Show, 2009. He bought it from the Chatah brothers of Lubumbashi. They have wholesale unworked and processed malachite as well as other mineral specimens of Katanga province since the 1970's.
<br /><br />Cornetite is a rare copper-bearing phosphate that reaches its ultimate development at Star of Congo Mine.
<br /><br />This show stopping example of cornetite is the largest and best example that I have seen anywhere. It can only become less common since the present regime which controls Star of Congo Mine is a private mining company. Most specimens from this locality were mined when Star of Congo Mine was owned and controlled by the Congolese government. The few mineral specimens that occasionally leave the mine in this era are poached at night before being thrown over perimeter fencing by enterprising artisan miners.</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;">Photo by Matthew Webb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia </p>